Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It wasn't a bad day, just an out of sorts day. It was one of those "yesterday I was absolutely certain I knew God was calling me to do such and such, but now I don't have a clue and I think I might have created a teeny, tiny mess instead" kind of days. Ever had one of those?

I felt a bit like John the Baptist in Luke 7 when he sends messengers to ask Jesus if He's really the Messiah: Hi. I thought we had a plan. I thought we were sticking to the plan, so what are You doing??? So I spent the day shaken and mad at myself, alternately handing the situation back to the Lord and kicking myself for taking it out of His hands in the first place.

Then the Lord started sending me little reminders of His grace. My dad dropped off a pizza out of the blue, just in time for dinner. (Thanks Hampy!) PB came home from work with roses in one hand and peanut M&Ms in the other because he knows how to perk up his woman. But the ultimate reminder of the Lord's goodness to me came in the form of penguins.

Last night PB, the kids and I were hanging out watching a show about animals living in Cape Horn (the bottom tip of South America as PB had to explain to me). My therapy really started kicking in as the kids were howling with laughter as a line of penguins climbed over a group of fat, sunbathing sea lions. It's hard to recapture the picture in words, but it was really funny to watch.

And as I laughed, I remembered that God created those funny little animals.

He created these wobbly, flightless birds who slide on their bellies and have personality from the tops of their heads to the tips of their webbed feet. He made them a hilarious delight to watch on purpose because He's that kind of Creator.

He's not a taskmaster impatiently snatching me back in place whenever I get out of line.

He's a loving Father who has the ultimate sense of humor.

As it turns out the situation wasn't nearly as bad as I originally thought and as usual, I had just blown something out of proportion. I'm actually thankful for how everything went down because it was a great reminder that while it's His holiness and righteousness that humble me to my knees, it's his lovingkindness that draws me to His side.

Penguins have long been my favorite of the animal world. Your illustration of them hammers home the inkling I've had for some time that I'm a lot like them--wobbly, flightless and lots of belly sliding. Thanks for this sweet reminder. It is a timely encouragement for me, in the midst of having a summer that is "one of those summers".